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Saturday, October 18, 2008

It feels good to complain about the weather

Date: Oct. 12, 13, 15Mileage: 61.0October mileage: 253.0

Well, Geoff is back in town now. Even after some discussion, I'm still not completely sure why he decided to return to Juneau after vowing he would not - at least, not until fall and a fair chunk of November and December were good and over. Juneau has given him its warmest welcome, too. The weather has been on the soft side of horrific. I'm not sure what it was like while I was in Utah, but I do know it pretty much hasn't stopped raining since the minute my Alaska Airlines jet lurched violently in a gusty crosswind just feet over the runway. Now we pretty much just wait for lulls in the wind to go out. "Oh, just 15 mph wind and drizzle? That's practically sunny."

Yesterday, before three hours of cycling I misjudged how many layers I'd need and paid the deep and painful price. I noticed a chill set in as I was climbing and knew I was in for problems. I turned around before too long, but it was too late to stave off breathtaking windchill during the descent, followed by 10 miles of bucking that 25 mph headwind in my single soaked layer of neoprene/polypro and a pathetic rain jacket. Upon return, I had to curl up on my bedroom floor while my body worked through some incapacitating pain. Rewarming the extremities after deep, wet chills is horrible. I have to relearn this every October.

Geoff has been experiencing some back problems and hasn't been running this week. Today he expressed interest in going for a hike, so we hit up Mount Jumbo. All was fine until we hit snowline, then I started to struggle. I was up there just 10 days ago, walking on dry ground under clear skies. Today we were plodding through knee-deep snow, still a few hundred feet below the peak. The snow was so wet that it seemed to be infused with some kind of oil - it was just super slick. After I crossed a narrow saddle, I slipped on a steep, rocky pitch and slid several feet toward the yawning abyss of a deep bowl. There were no cliffs nearby and the snow was deep and heavy enough to stop me before I slid too far, but I was sufficiently sketched out. I had announced to Geoff earlier that I would probably not follow him to the top, so I turned around right there. It was just as well. He caught me on my way down the mountain to report thigh-deep powder snow, a blowing blizzard, near-zero visibility and wind chills below 0F at the top. Another reminder that if you don't like the weather, just take a few extra steps - it can always get worse.

It's not supposed to get much better, but I still have a few punches left on my gym pass. Thinking it's time to take a break from the Great Outdoors.

39 comments:

The whole Geoff relationship story has been an interesting part of a very entertaining and dramatic blog. I don't even know where to start as far as commenting on your life and relationship, that you've talked about in your blog over the past year. It's been a WILD ride through all the ups and downs !.

If a blog fell in a forest, and nobody was around to read it, was it really blogged ?.

Earlier in the year I made the comment....would "Jill from Alaska" really BE "Jill from Alaska" if she didn't live in Alaska ?.

I just realised something today after reading your blog and Geoff's call for donations in his Oct 15th post. Peole are living their lives vicariously through Jill and Geoffs blogs.

There are two groups of people who read your blogs:

1. All the people who've gotten married, had kids, and "settled down" are wishing they could be free to live their lives as Jill and Geoff do. These are the people who'd like to be able to leave all their responsibilities behind, and forget their boring 9-5 jobs, and just be free to persue their real passions in life full-time. The parents and families of Jill and Geoff probably fall in this category.

2. The people who are ALREADY living that kind of free-spirited lifestyle or cycling, running, nature and outdoors, etc. These are the people saying "Come on in man, the water is fine !. Forget all that 9-5 crap and persue your dreams. You don't need to work or worry about life, just have a good time and keep doing races !". These are the type of people who want you to join in and be part of the community or family of outdoor adventurers, just like a group of Deadhedas would like you to join in with them in following the band around the U.S. and living the nomadic lifestyle. Being broke, sleeping on your friends floor, camping out, not having a steady job, is all OK because you're following your dreams and true passion in life.

I've come to another conclusion. That it is almost literally impossible to give any advice to Jill or Geoff that might be seen as practical, or in any way seen as "negative" or "psychobabble" by the two groups of people above.

The people that read your blog are literally "Yes men". Anything that might destroy their fantasy lifes of persuing their "ddream" is seen as a personal attack against their own hopes and dreams.

The 1st group wants you to keep living the life that you have because they can vicariously get satisfaction from your freedom and your lifestyle. They want you to keep persuing your dreams because in some way they've lost their own. They've "sold out", they've gotten 9-5 jobs, they've settled down, they've grown up and have taken on "adult" responsibilities, and they wish they could be "free" again.

The 2nd group already lives the free lifestyle, and they're afraid to give it up. They don't WANT to "grow up", get a boring 9-5 job, settle down, or take on "adult" responsibilities. Their freedom is everything to them, it IS the dream. They don't want to go back to the "real" world where they are just anonomous slaves in a corporate world. To lose the freedom and lifestyle means to lose "THE DREAM", and their hope, and the sense that they're not like "everybody else". "I AM NOT MY JOB !".

The 1st group and the 2nd group all gain vicarious thrills from reading the blog because because it either gives them something to aspire to, like the 1st group; or a as a way of reaffirming their lifestyle, as in the 2nd group. Anything that as seen as a threat to that lifestyle destroys a little piece of hope inside themselves that there is something MORE in life than a pre-set determined path of growing up, getting a job, getting married, raising kids, growing old, and eventually dying. Their MUST be a new adventure around the next curve, or over the next hill, THERE MUST BE !.

Hi! I like to read your blog, not because the bicycling, but the nature and the beautiful views of Alaska. And you are a strange person too. Alaska weather reminds me the weather in lapland back when I lived there.

anon.,you've forgotten about a very large third group: that is those who basically are in the first group you outline but are in denial about it and therefore are angry at people who aren't so tied down by money and the pursuit of money.

I guess the analysis has moved past you, Jill, and on to us readers. As for me, I enjoy the pictures and your ability to create a coherent and entertaining model of narration for your life.

I have a steady/secure job (not a career, yet), but it still leaves me plenty of time to pursue my own interests. I haven't ever been a cyclist, and have no honest desire to be a serious cyclist, but I love the great outdoors and am there fairly often -- maybe that is part of the interest in Jill's blog. We readers in a semi-routine aren't all (or even mostly, I think) jealous, angry, in the pursuit of money other than to pay our rent and travel, or in denial. The loudest whiners both you and Geoff get on your blogs may deceptively appear to be the majority. I just like a good read..thanks for providing that good read, Jill.

Wow. Snow already! I couldnt imagine having such a short spring and summer. Im originaly from wisconsin but unfortunately reside in the boring hot panhandle of florida. I miss the snow! So i'll definately be getting my fix of snowy pictures in your blog im sure.

Its probably sad to say that I miss trudging in the knee to waist high mounds of snow. That is until I get to do it again and actually remember how not fun it is lol. Im off to Germany next spring so i'll at least get a mild taste of a real winter again soon.

"Geoff said... anon.,you've forgotten about a very large third group: that is those who basically are in the first group you outline but are in denial about it and therefore are angry at people who aren't so tied down by money and the pursuit of money."

The irony about the whole "tied down by money and the pursuit of money" is now that you're asking for donations on your blog to support your running hobby. I got a good laugh out of that one, just because it is so ironic.

Some people are OK with it and will send you some bucks to support your hobby, while others were basically freaking out and saying words to the effect of "dude, you need to grow up and get a life". Personally, I don't care either way, you're free to ask for money, and also people are free to give their opinion positive or negative.

I think part of the negativity coming from people towards the donations thing was that it is just a hobby you're asking money for. A big part of it is probably the current world economic conditions too. People are out of their jobs or laid off, and out of work husbands have wives and families to support....and you're asking for donations to support a hobby. It's kind of a bad time, and bad timing, for that.

I thought "Jenny's" comments about doing rides to support charities was really good. People doing charity runs or bike rides to support things like MS or kids with cancer is really great.

Thanks for your long-winded return! I've missed your probing comments. Interesting especially since you've latched onto this post as a "Geoff" relationship post even though I merely mentioned that he was back in Juneau and we went hiking together.

Kind of unfair to make assumptions about the people who have made comments on my blog, since you know even less about them then you do about me. But for your vast knowledge that you seemed to have gathered about me, you seemed to have missed the fact that I do work a 40-hour-a-week job (2-11, not 9-5), have health insurance, pay all of my bills, carry no debt, and have never received a cent of government assistance (unless you count the Alaska Permanent Fund Dividend and a recent energy rebate check, which I do). I have a fair amount of savings stashed in low-earning CDs and money markets (not the stock market) which, assuming inflation doesn't grow out of control or the U.S. economy doesn't completely crash, I feel confident I could live on comfortably for four years, and may decide to do that before I accumulate, as you call them "adult " responsibilities. (Which I can only assume you mean property purchase and children, given that I already take care of myself and my own needs just fine.) I would use my free time to pursue my dreams, which would mostly involve writing and traveling. I'd like to parlay the writing into a real career, but I'd have to take the time to cultivate it first, which would involve a period of intentional poverty. If it didn't work out, I'd go back to the 9-5 (or 2-11, in whatever case.)

Not all "adults" choose to follow the same paths. You should be glad. All the more IKEA accessories for you.

Jill-I'm sure you know there are always more than two kinds of people...period!

Anon's shallow commentary misses at least one other kind: satisfied parents with adult responsibilities, holding memorable histories of our own, who find it simply gratifying to follow the exploits of like-minded adventurers in the following generation.

By the way my wife and I just returned from a mountain hike in the snow above our home in California. Now I suppose I'll have to mow the lawn or something, before fishing the evening rise.

It really wasn't meant as a "relationship" focus on the post, as that seems to be past-tense. The oddity seems to be that he's back in Alaska. Why ?!. Is it his way of trying to lure you away from Alaska ?. That part of it is just STRANGE. "I'm leaving indefinitely, goodbye, aloha, saynora, see ya !. Now I'm back...for a month or two....then I'm leaving for good !". WTF ???!. That just cracks me up. He doesn't seem to know why or what the hell he's doing.

It's been hilarious reading the goings on for the past year, and the whole "Is you is, or is you ain't ?" not only relationship wise, but also bike and running race wise too. There was a joke on the old MASH TV series about "This is the chair from which a thousand indecisions have been launched", that could be a whole undercurrent theme to both of your lives. Reading the blog is like a daily "What is going to happen NEXT ???".

" But for your vast knowledge that you seemed to have gathered about me, you seemed to have missed the fact that I do work a 40-hour-a-week job (2-11, not 9-5), have health insurance, pay all of my bills, carry no debt"

Oh thank God, at least ONE of you is sensible !!!. I'm sorry, but at least Geoff found a woman (however temporarily) that would put up with his actions and his lifestyle. Any other woman (besides his mother) would have kicked his ass to the curb a LONG time ago. I don't know how you put up with that crap as long as you did. Most women would be looking for a man with career prospects and a definite idea of the future ahead of him. It must be the laidback lifestyle you two enjoy that kept you together as long as it did.

Between the two of you, you are much better off than Geoff, as far as relationship possibilities and the future goes. Being a woman into cycling and the outdoors goes you'll have no problem finding someone else, the guys willing to ride with you in Alaska and California proved that out. You also have a decent job and career prospects. Geoff on the other hand, I don't know WHAT the hell he's going to do, shack up with some trustafarian chick and sponge off her ?. And a job as a "cook" ?.....did he even go to college ?. WTF is he going to do when he gets older ?. Unless he starts winning some money in these races he's entering he's going to be screwed when he gets older. Working 10 hours a week is all fine and dandy until you realise you don't have health insurance, a 401k, and haven't paid anything into Social Security.

"Not all "adults" choose to follow the same paths. You should be glad. All the more IKEA accessories for you."

Hee hee. You and Geoff sure are overly sensitive regarding how you live your lives as far as "adult responsibilities" goes. Must be a touchy subject. Especially given that there are probably quite a few people that read your blog that wish they could trade places with you. You know, the ones that say they don't have time to ride, train, or race as much as they'd like to because of their lives. Besides, YOU were the one that said that neither you or your sisters had children in your California blog. If there wasn't something about that that wasn't on your mind you wouldn't have said it.

As far as missing my comments goes, I've been here everyday reading your blogs and the comments. I just haven't been posting anything because I didn't want to somehow influence the future course of your lives regarding the relationship thing and the Alaska thing. Like most creative types you seem to have a knack for introspection and self-reflection, and maybe obsessing too much about certain things, and I wanted to see where things would go without my comments to get you thinking about certain subjects. It was fun in the past to post things that were either touchy subjects, critical comments or cronstructive criticism, and then watch the readers of your blog to rush in with defensive posts. Reading the "Anon poster you're a jerk....we love you Jill" posts was fun, especially since then you could see what people really thought about you. I had fun being the devil's advocate, and you got some positive feedback out of it from your other readers too. I'm going to have to post more in the future.cgorn

anon,we get the point, you have a passion for money... that shouldn't mean that everyone else needs to share that same passion. go ahead, spend as much time as you want pursuing financial wealth, but give it up with the disrespect of those who don't share your same passion.

WOW..what interesting comments.This is my first post to a blog and I would just like to say that along with alot I enjoy all of your photos and am very inspired by what you do, it kind of has inspired me alot more. And as for your writing style I used to be into cars and there was a writer for a certain mag that is similar to yours and was the only reason I had a sub to that mag. Please keep doing what you do and you have a follower for life.

2. After reading Jill's blog and countless others I upped and moved myself to Alaska. They are not the only reason I moved here, but I am glad their blogs had this influence on me.

3. I had zero problem donating money to Geoff, even though I don't know him personally. I enjoyed following his and Jill's Iditarod experience last year. I do not feel like he was "begging" for money but reaching out to people like me who want to see others succeed in what they love no matter their background.

4. I work (and love) a 9-5 job and have time to do other things I am passionate about, like hiking and photography. I have not sold out to anyone. I have a job and feel like a free-spirit. Oh yes...it is possible.

5. Oh, and I blog to keep family and friends up to date on me.

There is no set path folks. Just because you didn't follow your heart doesn't mean you can be angry at others for following theirs.

anon., i think without the internet, you would not have a life. strange you follow the personal details with such attention. suggests you are lacking such details in your own life. some folks, myself included, enjoy following this blog because it is interesting, likely quite dissimilar from your life.all the best.ak-blog-reader

"Geoff said... anon,we get the point, you have a passion for money... that shouldn't mean that everyone else needs to share that same passion. go ahead, spend as much time as you want pursuing financial wealth, but give it up with the disrespect of those who don't share your same passion."

No, nice try trying to put yourself on your little morally superior pedestal and trying to pigeonhole me as a person who lives their life only for money. Your self-deluding game on how you justify your own lifestyle doesn't work with me. You may think you are "better" than other people because you spend your entire life focusings on your hobby of running, but I see the bigger picture of how things really are.

Your "holier than thou" attitude about how you feel morally superior to other people because you're doing running races might work with your mom, your girlfriend, and your friends, but it doesn't work with me. I have an outsider's perspective and I see how things really are.

You think just because you live a non-mainstream "alternative lifestyle" and your sole focus in life is your hobby that you think you're somehow better than everyone else. That's where you're wrong. I see you as a person who is insecure about everything else in your life outside of your running, and needs to somehow put others down who you think only live their lives for money in order to make yourself feel better about yourself. If that's the attitude you need to cop to get yourself through life then so be it.

Just remember, there are plenty of us out here in the real world that support ourselves and our hobbies, and also have well rounded lives too.

I believe I, we are all individuals who don't need to be pigeon holed by anyone. Neither am I vicariously living out my life through the adventures of Jill and Geoff. I read a number of blogs, I read and come back to them, because I like what they have to say, why? Because it's for real, they have done these things, seen the scenery that they share with us, through their photos. It beats T.V., and fiction books, so this high inspection, analysis etc., just isn't required. Get a life!

Jack, who commented at the top, has a really interesting blog that I recommend reading. He's in the process of leaving a $300,000-a-year job, a $400,000 townhouse, and a rather comfortable lifestyle behind to pursue a more abstract idea of happiness. (So abstract, that I'm not even sure he's certain of exactly what he's going to do once he's free). It's a perspetive that I think adds an interesting layer to this discussion. Definitely worth checking out.

Your only as free as you let yourself be. Money can only hold you down as much as you let it control you. You live once. Money and debt dont go with you when you die... "Most people would rather be certain they're miserable, than risk being happy." ~Robert Anthony

Anonymous, you my friend are an asshole who I must say has a "creepy stalkerish" obsession with the lives of two nice people who live in Alaska and ride bikes/run. You don't respect nor like Geoff, we get it. You laugh and like to play little sick games with Jill's blog and her commenters. Take a step back and think about what your actions/words say about yourself. Dude, (I am assuming your are a male...seems right...) get a freaking life, unsubscribe to this blog and get back to your "well rounded responsible life" that you are so proud of.

"Jill said... Jack, who commented at the top, has a really interesting blog that I recommend reading. He's in the process of leaving a $300,000-a-year job, a $400,000 townhouse, and a rather comfortable lifestyle behind to pursue a more abstract idea of happiness. (So abstract, that I'm not even sure he's certain of exactly what he's going to do once he's free). It's a perspetive that I think adds an interesting layer to this discussion. Definitely worth checking out.

Adventures in Voluntary Simplicity"

That is an interesting blog. he has it "all" but he's not happy with his life, and he's giving it all up for a simpler life. I think he's reached a stage in his life most people would call a "mid-life crisis", but he's doing it in his 30's, and not later on in his 40's like most people. The thing about him is that he has it "all" to give through years of hard work and a good paying job, and he can always go back to that type of high paying life if he wants or needs to. Most people don't have that option.

The other part I found interesting was his comment that he grew up in a dysfunctional family, with lots of divorces and drama. I believe that part of his being "damaged" early on is what has lead him to be ultimately unhappy with his present life, and his desire to give it all away because it isn't making him happy.

Some people believe the myth of the TV shows of the 1950's such as "Leave It To Beaver" or "Father Knows Best" where people were always portrayed as living in the suburbs and everyone had a perfect life and was happy. The truth was probably more like the father was an unfulfilled wage slave at his 9-5 job, while the mother was a bored hosewife stuck in suburbia with no individuality or career indentity of her own. Chances are neither one of them was happy trying to live up to "The American Dream", and the father probably drank after work, while the mother started taking perscription anxiety and depression medication that became popular in the 50's.

Meanwhile the children who grew up in suburbia in the 1950's saw that "The American Dream" was based largely on consumerism and "Keeping up with the Jonses", and they saw that under the thin veneer of the false front of hapiness their parents put on in public that things at home weren't so idyllic. They knew first hand that by seeing their parents unhapiness, drug and alcohol problems, and divorces, that it was all a lie.

These kids started to question "The American Dream". Is having to slave away at an unfulfilling job, keping up with the Jonses, and living in suburbia,what life and "happiness" is all about ?. Eventually they said to themselves NO, there must be something more to life than material things. These were the suburban kids that started the peace movement, threw off their white collar suburban lifestyles and became the hippies and counterculture of the 1960's. The whole time they were on the road to "enlightenment" they were searching for peace, hapiness, and something that made them felt meaningfull. Some followed the Gratefull Dead around and partied, some joined the Peace Corps or worked for charities in third world countries, some joined religious groups, and some became protestors and environmentalists. All of them were basically searching for something meaningfull in their lives.

I think its amazing that Mr Anon is able to gleen so much about people from just reading a blog post. Mr Anon, you are obviously smart, but a tad psychotic, probably having to do with the fact that you have no friends becuase you pigeonhole people with sterotypes and black and white opinions to prove your smartness. this probably comes from years of taking care of people in a dysfunctional family, follwed by being bullied in school or having a sibling you couldn't live up to...I'm running out of psychobabble...lets just say you were just dropped on your head. seriously, shouldn't someone just delete this guy?

I was serious in the first two paragraphs about "Jack's" blog that was mentioned.

The rest of it I just threw in, probably shouldn't have as wasn't really related to him, more as a comment on recent American culture in general.

Instead of ditching his job and his posessions to go out and find "happiness" he should have been looking to the root cause for his UNhappiness. When I read though his blog to see why he wasn't happy with having "everything" in life the dysfunctional family part immediately stuck out. He could ditch his job, start a new life, and STILL be unhappy unless he sees where the source of his real unhappiness comes from. No psychobabble there, just common sense.

As far as being an asshole goes, yeah, I'll admit to that. Alot of things I've said could have been more tactfully put or more politically correct. As far as being a stalker goes that really doesn't apply. I basically come here to look a the pictures like everybody else, and I'll read the blog part as captions to the pictures. I haven't posted any comments here in months, maybe back in early summer. My comments are just more memorable because they're out in left field, and usually wind up pissing everybody off. There is a grain of truth in some of them though.

Maybe I'll post my own blog, and and have $1 donation charge (that goes to charity) to post in the comments section, and everyone can insult me for my comments for a good cause. ;)

Okay. Money does not equal happiness. Has nothing to do with it! Security is important. Jill, you're doing great to support yourself, enjoy your life and thoughtfully consider your future plans including self-funding the time to write. You've got a good hand on the tiller of your life...if I was your mom, I would be very happy about how you've lived your life so far. And the rest of us hopefully know that having a job is not a bad thing, especially if you choose a job/career that allows you to go out in the world and actually accomplish things. Work can be very, very good for you and for our society. Having a purpose in life, and knowing what it is (somewhat akin to contemplating the divine, I think, at times) is the real pursuit. Riding the bike is fun, a challenge, and helps keep things in perspective. Sounds like you have it figured out, Jill. Really.

Greetings from Juneau Daily Photo!My family and I are with you on the weather. In fact, I think I might be starting to rust, oh that's aging.;)I sure wish you or Geoff could have brought us back some sunshine.Thanks for the info. about fuel prices. Have a great week!:)

Wow. Talk about the liberating veil of anonymity. If we were all at a party we'd be talking about the weather or saying, "That's great. Really great."

The only thing I get from this blog is that Jill is a good writer and Alaska lends itself to fine photography.

It sounds to me (from her above comment) that Jill has a plan to support herself while giving it a go at the writing thing. The girl is a practical bohemian, who knew.It seems to me that she is going about it just right. I wish her luck because even with the obvious skill she has, the writing biz requires a little of that. My only words of advice would be- don't wait too long.

Dear Jill, I just "stumbled" across your blog and have really enjoyed it.What caught my attention is that you seem to bounce between two places that are familiar to me. I lived in Ketchikan, married and had kids there.I've only been to Juneau a few times...but have had friends there. I'm in CA now. I frequently visit my daughter and family in Riverton, Utah....across Hwy 15 from Draper. They have two Pizza restaurants ...one on 13000 in Sandy and one in Riverton...both called Rock Creek Pizza. Next time you are down there, drop in and tell my son-in-law, John, that I'm buying you a pizza. My granddaughter is going to U of Alaska in Juneau...she lives in the dorms there. She grew up in Ketchikan. I enjoyed your writings and pictures in both places...saw familiar sites. You've got a real gift for writing...keep up the good work....and great adventures. Enjoyed your sharing. Vinita in California

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